Updated Digital Maps Show Changes to Coastal Barrier Resources System in Five States

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a notice in the Federal Register on April 17, 2014 (79 FR 21787), to announce the availability of final revised maps for all John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS) units in Delaware, South Carolina (including one unit that crosses the state boundary into North Carolina), Texas and one unit in Florida. The revised maps are accessible via an online mapper at www.fws.gov/cbra/Maps/Mapper. html. The Coastal Barrier Resources Act requires the Secretary of the Interior to review and edit the maps at least once every five years to reflect changes in coastal barriers from natural forces.  

The updated maps were produced through a digital conversion project in partnership with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Service plans to complete digitally converted maps for units in Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New York City, North Carolina and Virginia by the end of this year. Updated maps for the entire System are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016.

The Coastal Barrier Resources System was established in 1982. It comprises a total of 856 geographic units that encompass approximately 3.2 million acres of relatively undeveloped coastal barrier lands located along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Great Lakes coasts, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Most new federal expenditures and financial assistance that encourage development are prohibited within the System, including federal flood insurance. However, development still can occur within the System, provided that private developers or other non-federal parties bear the full cost, rather than the American taxpayers.

Additional information about the Coastal Barrier Resources System can be found on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s website at www.fws.gov/cbra.